Love Isn't Too Scary
by newbienovelistRD
Summary: Miranda helps her Aunt Tessa overcome the shocking truth about Chef Remy Bones...that he's a living skeleton!


**Here is the sequel story for my Vampirina story, 'Fear of Love'. Enjoy and no flames please.**

* * *

At the Scare B&B, Boris and Oxana Hauntley sat in the kitchen, waiting for Chef Remy to return home.

"Chef Remy has been gone a long time." Boris said, looking at the clock. "Hope everything is okay."

"Boris, Remy has visited Miranda dozens of times." Oxana reminded her husband. "This won't be any different."

The doorbell screamed. Boris was the first to rush to the door. When he opened it, he gasped. "Great ghosts!"

Oxana rushed to the door. "What is it, darling?" She gasped too. "Sweet bat cakes!"

Their daughter, Vampirina, yawned as she walked down the stairs. "Mama? Papa? What's going on? Is Chef Remy home?"

Demi the ghost and Gregoria the gargoyle came in right behind Vampirina. "Is it too late for Chef Remy to make a midnight snack?" asked Demi. But he along with Vampirina and Gregoria gasped as well.

"No time for snacks, Demi." Miranda said. She and Remy carried an unconscious woman into the house. They brought the woman into the living room and gently placed her on the couch. Miranda looked back at the Hauntleys. The family of monsters gaped at what they were seeing.

"Oh, come on! It's not like this is the only weirdest thing that's happened in this house." said Miranda.

"Miranda! Who is this?!" asked Oxana.

After a heavy sigh, Miranda started talking. "This is my Aunt Tessa. She came over for a visit as well and saw Chef Remy, bones and all."

"Are you kidding me right now?!" Gregoria exclaimed.

"I wish she was!" said Chef Remy.

"I figured once she woke up, she'd be demanding answers. So I decided why not just bring her here and explain everything?" Miranda admitted.

"I don't know, Miranda." said Boris.

Oxana thoughtfully tapped her chin. "Maybe there's a spell I can use to erase her memory. She won't remember what happened tonight!"

"No! Don't do that!" Miranda reprimanded.

"Why not?" asked Remy. "We cannot let her know I'm a skeleton!"

"Or that we're all monsters living in a haunted house!" said Vampirina.

"Guys, I know this is all so much to take in. But...I don't want my auntie to forget. Because..." Miranda looked at the skeleton chef. "I think you have a shot with her, Remy."

Remy almost literally fell to pieces. "Me?! I do?! I mean, you think I do?!"

"Have a shot with her?! What in the name of Dracula are you talking about?!" said Gregoria.

"Because while Remy was disguised, he and Aunt Tessa were hitting off so well! They talked about cooking, The Big Bite, they even spoke so much in French! They went on so much that I could sense a spark! A spark of love!"

"Love?!" All the monsters were shocked.

"Yeah, Remy, I know you're looking for love. And I can tell Aunt Tessa really digs you. If you want someone to love you, they have to accept the real you. Right down to your bones."

"Y-You really think she would like me?" Remy looked at Tessa. She was unconscious, but still beautiful. He thought back to how much fun they had together. They had dinner, spoke French, and loved talking about cooking. For him to make a connection with someone so quickly, it was almost too good to be true.

"There's only one way to fins out, Bones." said Miranda. "When it comes to love, you got to take that leap of faith."

"You are right. I better bleach my bones. I have to look presentable!" The skeleton clacked to his room to get ready.

Oxana turned to Miranda. "I hope you know what you're doing, Miranda."

"I know what I'm doing! Trust me!" Miranda sais with confidence. Deep down, she hoped she knew what she was doing too.

* * *

Tessa felt her head hurt as she started to wake up. "Ohhhh, what happened?"

"Aunt Tessa?"

Startled, Tessa woke up in a room completely unknown to her. It looked so spooky, like a haunted house. The only thing she recognized what her beloved niece Miranda.

"Miranda...?" Tessa looked warily around. "Where am I?"

"At a friend's house." Miranda sat beside her aunt. "Are you okay?"

Tessa put a hand on her forehead. "I...I think so." Her mind trailed back to what she saw at Miranda's house. "WAIT! Honey, did you see..." She paused. "No, no. It can't be."

"It can't be what?"

"Well, sweetie. You know that contestant from, 'The Big Bite'? Chef Remy Bones? I dreamed I met him. And he..." Tessa blinked. "Um, no. It was just a dream. Forget it."

Miranda sighed. "It wasn't a dream."

Tessa's face became pale. "What?"

"It wasn't a dream. It really happened." Miranda got up and walked to the hallway. She beckoned someone to come over. The sound of something clattering came to Tessa's ears. Chef Remy Bones came in. No glasses, no fake beard, no chef uniform to hide his bones. He walked in full skeleton.

Tessa reeled in fear. She clutched the couch cushions as her eyes grew ridiculously wide. She tried to scream, but she was so scared, she could only move her mouth. No words could come out.

"Aunt Tessa, this is Remy Bones." Miranda introduced.

The skeleton felt frozen, fearing the worst. He waited for Tessa to scream, squeal, shriek in terror and run away.

"Y-You're a skeleton." Tessa muttered under her breath.

Remy figeted nervously. "Oui, I am."

Miranda saw her aunt absolutely speechless and Remy at a loss for words. So she decided to speak on Remy's behalf. "You really don't have to be afraid, Aunt Tessa. Chef Remy is one of the best friends I could ever have! I mean, sure, I was terrified when I first met him, but once I took the time to get to know him, we've been close ever since!" She looked at her aunt with hopeful eyes. "Won't you give him a chance? Please?"

Tessa was stunned beyond belief. Her niece was friends with a living skeleton?!

Remy saw how scared Tessa was. He can see it in her eyes. He saw fear, terror, and panic. Remy sighed. "I don't think this was a good idea, Miranda. I'll just leave now." He clacked toward the basement, but he stepped on a loose floorboard and his leg went right through it!

"AAAAAHHH! MY LEG!" Remy yelled in pain.

"Remy!" Miranda rushed to help her skeleton friend. "Are you okay?!"

"Yeah, are you okay?!" asked another person. Remy and Miranda looked and much to their surprise, it was Tessa!

Remy stared at her. She looked genuinely concerned. "I, uh..." He didn't know what to say. "I'm okay-" The skeleton tried to stand, but his leg buckled and he would have fallen if Tessa and Miranda hadn't of caught him in time.

"We better get you on the couch." Miranda said. She and her aunt carried Remy back to the living room and gently laid him out on the couch.

Vampirina and her parents rushed downstairs. "What happened?!" asked Vampirina.

"Remy's foot fell through one of the loose floorboards." said Miranda. "He's injured."

"Sweet bat cakes! I'll get the spell book!" Oxana rushed upstairs to her room.

Miranda stared. "Uh, who are they?" Tessa asked her niece.

"Oh, these are the Hauntleys." said Miranda. She gestured Vampirina to come closer. "This is Vampirina Hauntley, she's one of the kids I babysit. She and her family live here and make their house a bed and breakfast."

"Yeah, this is the Scare B&B!" said Vampirina.

"The Scare B&B?!" Tessa gasped. "You mean this is the haunted themed hotel I've been hearing about?!"

Vampirina nodded. "Mm-hmm. For our human guests, we have them think this is a haunted themed house. But in reality, it is a haunted house."

"Plus, Vee and her folks are vampires." Miranda added. "So...there's that."

Tessa almost fell off the couch. "V-V-V-Vampires?!"

Vampirina nodded. "Uh-huh. Here, I'll show you." She turned into a bat and flew around the room. Tessa gasped as she nervously watched Vampirina fly around. She returned to her normal self just as Oxana returned with the spell book.

"Okay, Chef. Where does it hurt?" asked Oxana.

"My ankle. I don't know if it's broken or not!" Remy started to worry. "The last thing I want is one of my beautiful bones broken!"

Miranda patted her bony friend's shoulder. "It's okay, Remy. We'll make sure you'll be okay."

Remy yelped when he felt a hand on his foot. He looked down and saw Tessa carefully examining his ankle. "I don't think it's broken. Maybe you just...sprained it?"

Remy gasped. "You are right! It must be sprained. OWWW!" The skeleton calmed himself beforr his shock caused anymore pain.

Oxana searched through her spell book. "I don't have q spell for sprained skeleton bones. But there is a recipe for a potion lotion! I'll get to work!" And the vampire wife and husband rushed to the kitchen.

"We better go help them, Vee." Miranda got up. "Aunt Tessa, keep Remy company while we get to work."

Tessa blinked. She was unable to respond as Miranda and Vampirina left the living room, leaving the human woman and skeleton man all alone. The two of them looked at each other in silence.

As Remy tried to read Tessa's thoughts, Tessa was taking Remy in. As she took him in, he didn't seem all that scary. His eyes fascinated her. Instead of having completely empty eye sockets, it looked like Remy had eyes with black sclerae and grayish green iris. He had a pleasant human smile rather than a big toothy one that a normal skull has.

Plus, his thin mustache and twirly beard was quite charming.

"So...are you going to be okay?" Tessa asked Remy, who was startled out of his thoughts.

"Huh?! Oh! Uh, I believe so." He wiggled his foot and hissed in pain.

"You better lie still until Miranda and the...Hauntleys come back with a cure." Tessa looked at Remy's foot. "It's just...baffling though. How can you sprain your ankle if you have no muscles?"

"Well, I maybe a skeleton, but I still feel pain. Perhaps instead of a sprain, I bruised my bone." Remy answered. He noticed how much Tessa was staring at her. And Tessa noticed as well.

"I-I'm sorry for staring." Tessa said honestly. "When I woke up this morning, I never would have thought this would happen to me."

Remy shrugged. "I am a lot to take in, aren't I?"

To his surprise, Tessa smiled. "Yeah, but I think I'm making a big deal out of nothing." She held her hand out. "Can I...?"

Remy held his hand out. "Of course."

Tessa and Remy gently held each other's hands. Tessa was fascinated by the feel of the bone. She ran her index finger down his palm, fingers, and wrists. "This is amazing!"

A wave of relief fell over Remy. Tessa was becoming less and less afraid of him.

"If you think my hands are amazing, wait until I make some spooked potatoes with them!" Remy blinked. "When my ankle bone feels better, of course."

"Spooked potatoes?"

Remy nodded. "Oui, Miranda loves my spooked potatoes! Especially with some ghoulish gravy!"

Tessa laughed. "Sounds like quite a meal! I wouldn't mind trying it if you made it!"

"It's a deal!" said Remy.

Miranda and the Hauntleys arrived in the living roo. Miranda smiled. "Sounds like you two are getting along well."

"And I made that potion lotion for Remy's bruised bone." Oxana poured an ooey, gooey green slime from the bottle into her hand. She got down on her knee and applied the magic lotion on Remy's ankle.

"OH!" Remy yelped and started to laugh. "Oxana! That tickles!"

"He's...ticklish?!" Tessa asked in disbelief.

Miranda giggled. "Yeah, Remy's super ticklish. Especially...here!" She ran her finger up Remy's ribcage.

The skeleton almost jumped off the couch in a fit of giggles. "Not my ribs, Miranda!" Remy tittered.

"Remy! You have to be still!" Oxana said sternly. "I have to put this on you!"

Boris cracked his knuckles. "This calls for a little vampire super strength." He pinned Remy's legs to the couch. Oxana resumed putting the lotion back on Remy's ankle bone.

"Ahahahahaha! It tickles too much!" Remy laughed. Miranda and Tessa pinned his arms down before he moved around too much.

"Try to control it, Remy." Tessa advised.

Remy giggled. "It's hard! Heeheehahahaha!"

"Don't make me go for your ribcage, Remy!" Miranda teased, wiggling her fingers toward the skeleton's ribs.

Remy gasped. "Oh, no! Anything but that!"

"There! All done!" Oxana finished putting on the potion lotion. The slimy lotion started to glow bright blue.

"Ooh, la, la!" Remy gushed with relief. "It's working! I feel the pain going away!"

The glowing ooze was quickly healing Remy's ankle. Tessa watched in amazement as the slime's glow became brighter and slowly fade away. When the glow died down, the slime was gone and Remy's pain was gone!

"It worked! My ankle bone feels good as new!" Remy wiggled his foot and no more pain!

"Alright, Remy!" said Miranda. "I think this calls for a good rib-tickler! What do you say, Auntie?"

Remy turned to Tessa, who grew a playful smile. "Sounds like fun!" She was the first to start the fun as she ran her fingers up Remy's ribs.

"OHOHOHOHAHAHAHAHAHA! Please, Tessa! HEEHEEHAHAHAHAHAHA! NOT MY RIBS!" Remy laughed.

"Nope! Tickle, tickle, tickle!" Tessa teased.

"Coochy, coochy, coo!" Miranda sang as she tickled the other side of Remy's ribs.

The skeleton exploded with laughter. His laughter made Tessa laugh. To think, a ticklish skeleton! This night was full of surprises!

"Okay, ladies. That's enough." said Boris. "Chef Remy needs his energy to recover."

The humans stopped and let Remy regain his breath and composure. "Don't worry, Remy. Laughter is the best medicine. Consider it part of your treatment."

Remy put his fallen chef hat back on. "Well, I suppose my funny bones could use a good laugh." He turned to Tessa and smiled. "And...perhaps you would like to join me in the kitchen, Tessa? I did promise those spooked potatoes and I could use a sous-chef." He offered his hand to the human.

To his delight, Tessa smiled and took his hand. "I'd love to!"

Vampirina watched the two walk into the kitchen together. "I guess you did it, Miranda."

"I suppose." Miranda shrugged.

"Suppose?"

"Yeah, I did set up Remy and Aunt Tessa together. But the reason why they got along so well is because they took that leap of faith and got to know each other. Aunt Tessa could have just ran out of here in terror, but she decided to stay. She did the hard part."

Oxana put an arm around Miranda. "Well, thanks to Miranda, Remy may have found that special someone he's been looking for."

Miranda smiled as she and the Hauntleys ventured to the kitchen, happy for the budding romance within the Scare B&B.


End file.
